Joke's On You

4.

Kiera: Are you alright? You're a bit quiet today

Nicki: Yeah, you know, just a bit trouble with my dad being in town and mom being on edge. Divorced parents. Ugh. 

Kiera: :( I'm so-

"Kiera! Get off your phone immediately!" 

A hand slammed Kiera's table, nearly making her leap out of her chair. Her eyes shot up to meet Mr. Santos'.  He let out an exasperated sigh. "I know you're a hardcore soccer fan, but you can read up or watch matches later. Not during my class, mm?" 

"Sorry Mr. Santos," Kiera apologised, but Mr. Santos just snorted.

"I might have believed you were actually sorry if this wasn't the fifth time I caught you in the past few days."  He held out his hand. "Go on, give me your phone. You'll get it back after class." 

Kiera held onto her phone and glared up at Mr. Santos, but he didn't budge. He only wiggled his fingers. 

"Shit," Kiera cursed, pressing her phone in his open hand. 

Terrible timing. Nicki was going to think she disappeared right when she was talking about her parents! Kiera buried her head in her hands. Like it hadn't been hard enough, getting past the awkwardness of last week Friday and Nicki saying no to hanging out. 

Kiera had tried to be a good sport about it, telling Nick it didn't matter. If Nicki knew how many hours she'd spend just staring at her photo in the middle of the night, taking in her cutie pixie cut, heart shaped face, green eyes and kind smile, she definitely wouldn't believe it. 

"Come on, online arguments which are bullshit anyway wait until after school? You're so glued to your phone nowadays it's ridiculous," Carter muttered from her right.

"Am not," Kiera denied sharply. "Not more than usual."  

Carter rolled his eyes. "Geez no need to get so catty." 

Kiera just rolled her eyes right back and didn't reply anymore. She didn't wait for Layla and Carter after school either, instead making a beeline for Mr. Santos' classroom to get her phone back.

She looked for Nicki's number immediately.  

Kiera: I'm sorry for disappearing! Some teacher took my phone. Are you alright?

Nicki replied a moment later.

Nicki: I'll have to be - we've agreed we're going together to the stadium tomorrow. it just sucks that we can't go together with the entire family. :\

Kiera: yeah... it does. I'm sorry

Nicki: it is what it is. 

Nicki: but sorry for putting this on you -  I didn't want to spoil your good mood 

Kiera: you didn't! you should get to vent a bit. Want me to cheer you up? 

Nicki was typing again, probably to tell her that she didn't have to if Kiera knew her well enough, but she dug up some funny animal videos anyway. 

She started with a cute, funny cats video that always made Kiera smile, too. And luckily, Nicki too.

Nicki: LOL :'D that's amazing! my new favourite cat video

Kiera smiled, sending her a beautiful arrangement of snackbar food which could be bought inside the stadium next.

Kiera: Just think about all these amazing fried foods you're gonna eat later

Nicki: I love all the cheese snacks <3 <3 

Nicki: thank you so much. that did cheer me up, you're sweet

Nicki: <3

Kiera's stomach did a funny flipflop thing, realising this was the first time Nicki had directed a heart towards her. She felt a flush creep onto her cheeks as she replied.

Kiera: <3 

"There you are!" Layla's voice rang out in the hallway.

Kiera looked up and saw her friend approaching, waving at her as she went. 

Kiera: gtg, friend is here. 

"Where were you?" Layla asked, huffing. "We were waiting for you at the parking lot. The talk with Mr. Santos didn't take that long, did it?" 

"Oh no, I just got a bit distracted, sorry," Kiera apologised, to which Layla shook her head. 

"You and that soccer world cup, I swear. You're going to run into a lamppost or miss an exam one of these days." 

Kiera chuckled. "I'm sure you're right," she said, following Layla outside. 

She stared out of the window of Layla's car as they drove home, not paying attention to Carter and Layla's usual banter but not daring to take her phone out with them this close either. 

Should she tell Nicki that she really kinda likes her? Nicki had hesitated so much about meeting her a few days ago for some reason, that she wasn't sure. Maybe that was coming on too strong. 

By the time Layla dropped Kiera off at home, she still didn't know what to do. She breathed out, sounding like a deflating balloon, paced around for a while, then finally grabbed her phone. 

Nicki had beat her to it. Kiera's eyes went wide when she saw the huge wall of text Nicki had sent her, immediately going to her inbox to check the rest of the message. She dropped herself on the couch. 

Nicki: Hey Kiera... I've been thinking about it a lot the past few days. Meeting you, I mean. To be honest, when you suggested it I wanted to say yes immediately, but I said no because I'm already stressed and have a lot going on with my mom and dad and all. I can't send hearts to you and I can't meet you because if I meet you I might be falling for a straight girl all over again and I can't handle that rn. I'm just... not going to talk to you for a while, okay? I'm sorry. 

Kiera released a shaky breath, eyes wide as blood rushed through her ears. Straight girl? What was she on about? 

Of course.

Nicki still thought Kiera had gotten pranked and was just purely platonically talking to her.  Jumping up from the couch so aggressively that her dog August woke up and whined, Kiera dialed Nicki's number. 

"Come on, fuck," she growled when she immediately got connected to a generic voicemail message. Nicki's phone was either off or on aeroplane mode. Kiera buried her hands in her hair. 

 Shit. What the hell was she supposed to do now?